The Commission
on Judicial Performance yesterday publicly admonished a Merced Superior Court
judge for holding cases under submission beyond the 90-day limit and falsely
swearing that he was not doing so.

The commission
said that Judge John D. Kirihara had appeared before it on May 8 to object to
the discipline, but that it had approved the discipline by a vote of 8-0, with
two members recused and one not participating.

Kirihara, the
commission said, violated the 90-day rule three times in 2010. He had one civil
case under submission for 320 days, a probate matter under consideration for
237 days, and a matter involving a trust under submission for 110 days.

The commission
also noted that with respect to the probate matter, the judge was specifically
advised that the case had been under submission for five or six months, yet
took another 59 days to submit his decision.

The judge
committee further misconduct on 11 occasions, once a month from May 2010
through March 2011, by falsely swearing that he had no cases under submission
for more than 90 days, the CJP found.

The commission
also found that the judge violated the Rules of Court or the ethical canons by
failing to keep a list of cases he had under submission, even during a period
that he was presiding judge of the court and obliged by the rules to circulate
such lists among the judges.

“Presiding
judges have the responsibility of monitoring the cases under submission on
their county and ensuring that no cases remain undecided for more than 90
days,” the commission said. “Consequently, a presiding judge should be
particularly vigilant about monitoring his or her own submitted matters.”

Kirihara, a
judge since 2001, was presiding judge from April 2007 through the end of 2010,
the commission said.